Washington Post contrasts the episode with the South African multibillionaire’s anti-immigration views

Elon Musk briefly worked illegally in the US after abandoning a graduate studies program in California, according to a Washington Post report that contrasted the episode with the South African multibillionaire’s anti-immigration views.

The boss of Tesla and SpaceX, who has in recent weeks supported Donald Trump’s campaign for a second presidency while promoting the Republican White House nominee’s opposition to “open borders” on his X social media site, has previously maintained that his transition from student to entrepreneur was a “legal grey area”.

But the Washington Post reported Saturday that the world’s wealthiest individual was almost certainly working in the US without correct authorization for a period in 1995 after he dropped out of Stanford University to work on his debut company, Zip2, which sold for about $300m four years later.

  • dan@upvote.au
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    25 days ago

    illegally in the US after one of her visas expired.

    Just to clarify: A visa just determines the time period when you can enter the USA. How long you can stay in the USA is determined by the I-94 (a form that’s issued upon arrival), not the visa.

    It’s possible for the I-94 expiration date to be later than the visa expiration date, which means you can still stay in the USA after the visa expires (until the I-94 expires), but you just won’t be able to leave and re-enter without renewing the visa.

      • dan@upvote.au
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        25 days ago

        Yeah, definitely. I just wanted to clarify since it’s a common point of confusion even for people that are currently on visas. My wife and I got a green card a few years ago so I’m glad I don’t have to deal with visas any more.